Research new Creative X-Fi card before you buy

[the Chase]

Picked up the XtremeMusic version of Creative's newest cards-got it home and couldn't even boot windows at all with it installed. Went to Creative's forums and there are many frustrated people with NF4 motherboards that the lower two versions of these sound cards don't work with. Creative has a fix but you have to ship the card to them and the will fix and send back.Some mobo manufacturers have released a bios update that fixes this problem as well but only a few of them. Supposedly the newest shipping sound cards don't have this problem but I just bought mine today 12/27/05 and no go. I'm just going to return mine.

 

[jc9970]

That truly sucks man. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[diapickle]

The problem with Creative is they don't back their products at all. It's like once they sold the product it's none of their business any more. Their drivers are buggy as hell yet they make about one driver update every year, and to top that the updates don't even attempt to fix anything. Their official forum is a rant board and their customer support is non-existent. I guess that's just what monopoly gets you.

 

[DrMrLordX]

This is why I stick to integrated sound solutions these days. Soundcards used to matter, but not anymore.

 

[alcoholbob]

On the other hand, the nForce4 boards have their share of problems as well...

Like tech support saying "please don't install our drivers, most of your external drives and PCI devices will not work."

 

[blurredvision]

My X-Fi Platinum card has worked fine with my nf4 ultra board from day 1, and I purchased my X-Fi the day they were released in Best Buy stores.

 

[Reckie]

Beats me how magazines and other testers can give this card such high ratings when it wont run properly on many popular setups.

This card is major headache for me. Ive built a nice gaming computer and would top it off with a great card, instead its performance is a joke.

Creative, please get your act together....

 

[imported_Rampage]

LOL

Not surprised. Creative is junk.
I havent bought their crap since all the issues with the original Live! and Audigy1 cards. Look up squeal of death on google, read about how the old audigys (and prob new ones, I wouldnt be surprised) sent null data over the PCI bus even when not in use.

 

[the Chase]

X-bit labs just did a review of these sound cards and no mention of the compatibility problem at all. One of the 1st comments about the review did though. X-bit did review the gamer edition which doesn't have the compatibilty problem but still you would have thought they might have heard about this problem by now and mentioned something about it! Can't believe Creative is so silent on this and all these people(myself included) have to go through the process of buying this-discovering it doesn't work on your computer(after spending time trying to figure out why)-and having to return it.

Good to hear you had no problems blurredvision- it doesn't effect all models Nf4 boards-just us "lucky" ones!

 

[bamacre]

What other brands of sound cards are good? It seems there is little competition for Creative.

 

[TheRyuu]

I got an X-fi and It's working fine with my nf4 board.

 

[darincm]

X-Fi Platinum works fine for me an ABIT NF2 Motherboard

 

[Brian48]

This is old news. Either wait for a BIOS update for your motherboard or RMA the card back to Creative for an EEPROM work-around. This issue is related to those X-FI models with only 2mb of VRAM. The newer X-FIs already have the updated EEPROM.

New BIOs are slowly trickling out for most MB manufacturers, but I wouldn't hold my breath, especially with Chaintech. The RMA process with Creative is very painless and relatively quick (approx. two weeks) if you're one of the unlucky ones that happen to have one of the older X-FIs.

In regards to the high ratings this card has gotten, it's well deserved. The sound quality, performance, and believe it or not, even the drivers are superb.

 

[Brian48]

Originally posted by: darincm
X-Fi Platinum works fine for me an ABIT NF2 Motherboard

This issue is specific to the nForce4. See this old thread.

 

[niggles]

when it works it's fantastic. Personally I have a Uli board and it runs fine.

 

[Snooper]

One of the common links in a lot of the "x doesn't work with y" posts around the internet is the NF4 chipset. And this is really irriating as I am planning on buying a NF4 based MB in a month or so. And I just ordered a part that is known for having issues with some of the NF4 MB (Plextor PX-716SA).

 

[BFG10K]

In the time of this issue existing my motherboard maker (Gigabyte) has released two BIOS updates. I suppose things can get more difficult if you have one of the less respected vendors that don't bother updating BIOSes.

 

[the Chase]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
In the time of this issue existing my motherboard maker (Gigabyte) has released two BIOS updates. I suppose things can get more difficult if you have one of the less respected vendors that don't bother updating BIOSes.

Yeah Chaintech has the record for least amount of bios updates possible for any given motherboard. I guess what do you get for $68 nowadays- my cheapness sometimes comes back to bite me! Hopefully the new revision will be the only one to find in stores soon so I can get one- I hear they really are quite impressive sounding(when they work).

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: bamacre
What other brands of sound cards are good? It seems there is little competition for Creative.

EMU, Chaintech.

Or are you talking about for games? The above two are for music.

 

[Gerbil333]

Good job digging up this thread.

 

[sygyzy]

It's only been two months!

 

[Bluestealth]

Originally posted by: sygyzy

Originally posted by: bamacre
What other brands of sound cards are good? It seems there is little competition for Creative.

EMU, Chaintech.

Or are you talking about for games? The above two are for music.

Not even to mention that EMU is a CREATIVE COMPANY ... some of you people are just stupid, btw You didn't mention M-Audio... someone is probably going to come kill you now

 

[ChiPCGuy]

No one bothered mentioning the Auzentech HDA Digital X-Mystique or X-Plosion, either. Both of those cards are superb in their own right....and have no driver issues.

 

[Ghouler]

This is old thread.
Any current nForce4 mobo and X-Fi work together. See previous posts
I have X-Fi and run into no such problems.
There were sh..loads of various products having problems with nForce4 chipset and this is, hopefully, matter of past.

btw.

beware of people talking hardware A has issues while hardware B is your mom's milk:disgust:

 

[the Chase]

Yep they (Creative) fixed their cards to work on all (I think) Nf4 boards. I went back and bought the new revision, popped it in to the same mobo that wouldn't boot with the older non-working revision and it worked awesome!!

Good job Creative!